


Standing in your Light

by NikkiCross



Category: Naruto
Genre: 101 ways to piss off a Hokage, A lot - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angry!Minato, But that's okay because they love him, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Future!Itachi, Itachi Cuddles, Itachi is bad at explaining things, Jiraiya can't catch a break, Kakashi is Guilty, M/M, M/M/M, Minato and Kakashi are confused, Not Beta Read, Polyamory, Semi Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Smut, Time Travel Fix-It, minato is a Good Dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:54:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24898762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiCross/pseuds/NikkiCross
Summary: After war ravages the Shinobi Nations, Itachi is sent back through time to resurrect the Yondaime and stop the war before it begins. Through many trials, triumphs, failures, and angry Kages, Itachi can admit he's at least partially successful.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Namikaze Minato, Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Itachi, Jiraiya/Orochimaru/Tsunade (Naruto), Namikaze Minato/Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Itachi, Namikaze Minato/Uchiha Itachi
Comments: 24
Kudos: 132





	Standing in your Light

**Author's Note:**

> So this is something I typed up in literally two hours back in May because inspiration struck. I have a plan to continue it, but other stories are my first priority, so it'll be pretty slow. Rip. Anyways, enjoy my brain vomit!
> 
> ~Nikki

It was eerily quiet as Itachi stepped into the tomb. Fuinjutsu really wasn’t an easy topic to learn, so even after years of intense study, Itachi still wasn’t entirely sure if he had what it took to pull this off. Sasuke and Naruto were counting on this, though, so he couldn’t let them down. Obito’s eye burned in his socket, throbbing with displeasure after being overused for the past week. Itachi pressed his palm to it, relieved to find it free of blood, but still slightly concerned with being able to leave the room unnoticed. He’d managed to steal the kunai from Hatake’s room without detection, but there was no guarantee the seal was still any good.

Sighing and shaking his head, Itachi resigned himself to cross that bridge when he came to it. Worst come to worst, he could use the kamui one more time today. Probably. Maybe. Chiding himself for stalling, Itachi walked over to the marble case he has become intimately familiar with over the last week. Itachi felt his Sharingan spin to life as he quickly sent the inconceivably heavy lid into an alternate dimension. There was no way in any dimension he would be able to lift that thing on his own, so Itachi thanked Obito for what felt like the thousandth time this week before peeking his head inside the casket. 

It was chilling, how lifelike the Yondaime looked even in death. Itachi knew that the preservation seals would keep the bodies in the exact same shape as when the Kages died, but it was still a whole different experience seeing it yourself. Suppressing a shudder, Itachi reached into his pocket, withdrawing a vial heavily wrapped in cloth. He couldn’t risk breaking it. If Itachi spilled the liquid it contained, their entire plan would be lost forever. 

Itachi gently unwrapped the small glass bottle, his hands steady despite how his heart was racing. Reaching into the casket, Itachi removed the preservation seal from the Yondaime’s chest, tucking it into his pocket. Itachi wasn’t sure what he was expecting, maybe for the man to crumble into dust, or for the body to start rotting in front of him, but it stayed still. Nothing happened. Sighing in relief at the incredible preservation seal (he would have to take it apart later), Itachi uncorked the vial. Due to the seals, the body had never gone through rigor mortis, and Itachi was easily able to open his jaw. 

Dropping the clear liquid down the man’s jaw, Itachi grabbed out his special sealing pen that had been gifted to him by Naruto right before he’d left. With the seals carved into it, all he had to do was prick his skin, and it would automatically withdraw and combine his blood with the ink already inside. Really, it was quite the piece of art, and Itachi couldn’t fathom the amount of time Naruto must have spent working on it. Especially with all the time he, Itachi, and Shikamaru had spent developing the seal he had been sent here to apply.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Itachi stabbed the pen into his forearm before using the sharp tip to slice the Yondaime’s shirt down the middle. Pushing it to the side, he jumped into the casket, carefully landing with his feet on either side of the man’s waist. 

“Sorry about this, Hokage-sama,” Itachi whispered as he straddled the man, pressing his pen into his chest.

The seal was simple just as it was complex. Really it was a reanimation seal, but the intent here was not to simply bring back the soul into a body, like the Edo Tensei, but instead to bind an already present soul back into the living body. This would only work on a perfectly preserved body still capable of holding human life, which of course became a problem due to the massive hole in the Yondaime’s abdomen. It had taken the better part of a week to not only patch up the hole and organs, but also to get enough blood transfused back into his system when the heart wasn’t beating to move it around. Thank the gods for Sakura.

Itachi blew on the seal as he waited for it to dry. It wasn’t very large, a little bigger than the average heart, and was pretty simple to apply on a non-moving target. It would wash right off, too, after it was activated, so he didn’t have to worry about it being pretty like Naruto’s. Licking his lips, Itachi gathered some Iryo chakra in his right hand, pressing it to the center of the Yondaime’s seal, before setting his left hand, full of normal chakra, on top of it. Closing his eyes and focusing, he breathed deeply and balanced both sides to make sure they were under total control. 

Snapping his eyes open, he slammed the chakra into the seal and watched as it lit up - green on the right, blue on the left - before it began burning a bright white. It was boiling hot, and Itachi was a bit concerned it might scar the man, but there was nothing he could do about it. Wincing at the heat against his palms, Itachi bore through it and was careful not to overbalance either side. 

It had been several minutes since he had started, Itachi thought, but still nothing was happening. That was bad. If this seal failed, not only was there a large chance someone would notice the tampering with the Yondaime’s body, but Itachi would no longer be able to bring the Yondaime back. Gasping through the pain, Itachi doubled his output on both sides, hoping desperately that this would work. Both would be suffering an extreme case of chakra exhaustion afterwards, but this was his last chance.

The world had started to blur black around the edges of his vision when Itachi felt the seal finally take. Long tendrils of light surrounded the body and blood started to rush through the Yondaime’s viens. The grey coloring started to fade out of his body, and the man’s muscles started to twitch. There was a huge gasp from underneath Itachi as the Yondaime’s lungs began to function again, and the next thing he knew, Itachi was sliding down the wall on the other side of the crypt.

Blinking dizzily as both heavy chakra exhaustion and a concussion began lapping at conscious, Itachi gazed dazedly at the Yondaime who was now crouched on the other end of the crypt, looking around in horrified disbelief. Okay, Itachi probably should have expected that, in hindsight, considering he died sealing the Kyuubi. That was probably the last thing he remembered, so waking up with someone looming over the top of him in an unfamiliar place was bound to freak him out.

“Yondaime-sama,” Itachi croaked, as he fought his sluggish muscles to sit up. “I apologize for startling you. I didn’t know you would regain consciousness so fast. Please, allow me to explain what is going on.”

Itachi wiped some blood from his face as he realized that he’d taken a far harder hit than he originally thought. Damn, he really didn’t have the chakra to spare for healing right now. Closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the wall, he pressed a hand to the bloody spot on his scalp and began funneling Iryo chakra to it.

“If you don’t mind, would you care to tell me exactly who you are and how you managed to breach Konohagakure security into the most heavily guarded spot in the village?” the previously deceased Hokage commanded, KI rolling off him in waves, a glare fixed on his face.

“I’m not surprised you don’t recognize me. It has been almost 20 years, after all,” Itachi said, pulling his hand away from his head.

He was thinking a bit clearer now, but still feeling the full effects of chakra exhaustion. He pulled out a bag of soldier pills from the pouch on his leg and popped one in his mouth before tossing it at the man across from him. Chewing slowly, he immediately could feel the chakra rushing back into his system. He lowered his head and looked the blond in the eyes, Sharingan spinning back to full activity once again.

“Uchiha Itachi reporting for duty, Yondaime-sama.”

He could see the blood drain from the man’s face as he grasped the implications of that statement.

 _“Itachi-kun?”_ he hissed. 

Itachi nodded a bit dumbly, blaming the concussion.

Minato looked down, seeming to absorb the information alright, but not quite know what to do with it.

“Itachi-kun, you just said it’s been 20 years. I died, I know I did. I sealed part of my soul in Naruto,” He muttered. “I _should not_ be alive right now.”

Blinking, Itachi explained a bit airily, “Well, technically, you’ve only been dead for five years, so your body was still in great shape with the preservation seals,” 

Damn, he really needed to get himself together, but the chakra exhaustion was still weighing down his thoughts. 

“Getting your soul was the easiest part of all of this. All we had to do was trade Shinigami-sama for a soul he really wanted, and he gave back your soul easily.”

“I’m sorry, what?” the Yondaime asked, blinking a few times. “Did you just say five years? I thought you said it was 20 years originally?” 

The blond shook his head and threw three of the soldier pills in his mouth. Lord knows he was going to need them.

“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” he asked. “Give me a full report.”

“I can give you a full report of what’s going on after we’ve recovered and are no longer stuck in here, Yondaime-sama,” Itachi said. “In short, though, a war will begin in about eleven years that will wipe out 99 percent of all shinobi, and all of the civilians. In an attempt to stop it, the small group of shinobi left alive devised a seal to send exactly one of us back in time. To win this war, however, we were going to need a sealing master, so we did everything we could to figure out how we could get one.

“We didn’t have enough chara between the seven of us to send me any further back than 15 years, so we decided to try and devise a way to bring you back. Naruto was exceptional at sealing for what he had access to, but we needed someone who had read some of the real Uzushio scrolls. And thus, I was sent back to revive you so we can prevent the war,” Itachi finished, knowing his explanation was patchy at best, completely inane at worst.

The Yondaime blinked, seeming to absorb the information.

“If that was the case then, why didn’t Naruto himself come back?” he asked, blank faced.

Itachi winced slightly. “We needed the insane amount of chakra he was able to generate in order to get the seal to work. If he had been the one we had attempted to transport, we would have only sent him a couple years back; maybe three or four. Jinchuriki started disappearing this year, though, so we needed to go back as far as possible. I was chosen because of my Sharingan. I have the ability to perfectly replicate seals, and the chakra control to use them. I deeply apologize that we couldn’t send Naruto himself back, Yondaime-sama.”

The man rubbed his eyes and sighed.

“It’s always been Minato to you, so you can drop the formalities,” Minato said, waving a hand. “So then, it’s been five years since I died? What’s going on with the village? With Naruto?”

“Currently the village is back under the jurisdiction of Sandaime-sama. He doesn’t know who else to have run for Hokage, though in the original timeline Tsunade-sama took over after his death in seven years,” Itachi said.

Minato looked up. 

“Hiruzen took the hat back up? Not Orochimaru?” Minato asked. “The counsel was pushing really hard for him to be the next Hokage when Hiruzen stepped down. I assumed it would go to him.”

Itachi hummed thoughtfully. 

“It was probably good that Orochimaru didn’t end up in the Hokage position. I don’t know if it would have changed anything, but as of right now he’s a Nukenin.”

“He defected?” Minato murmured.

He’d always had his doubts about Orochimaru, but Jiraiya always said that there was a reason Hiruzen trusted him so deeply. 

“Yes. Danzou got his claws into him and pretty much gave Orochimaru the freedom he needed to give up his ethics and kill dozens of people. Mostly children, if the rumors are to be believed,” Itachi told Minato, trying his best to ignore the anger in his face. “If it’s any help, though, he got his comeuppance.”

“How so?” Minato asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Orochimaru dreamed of becoming immortal. Until every curse mark and seal that he planted was gone, there was always going to be a way to bring him back,” Itachi explained. “We found, disabled, and wiped out everything he could have possibly used as a way to bring himself back, and then traded his soul for yours. After defying death for so long, Shinigami-sama was more than happy to take him off our hands. One sacrifice for another.”

Minato hummed, obviously interested about the concept of trading souls, but not certain whether to press it.

“That’s not to say, however, that Sarutobi-sama has made entirely good decisions either. He is one of the biggest factors of the war starting in the first place, if indirectly.”

“What do you mean by that?” Minato asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Due to the orders to keep the Uchiha away from the Kyuubi on the night of the attack, suspicion was spread about their involvement. Although it was an Uchiha that released the Kyuubi, they were in no way still a member of the village, and were being manipulated at the time. Because the Uchiha were being suspected by the village and Sarutobi-sama did nothing to stop it, the Uchiha began planning a coup. That, of course, was less than ideal, so Danzou had them all eradicated other than Sasuke, the masked man, and me.”

“God damnit,” Minato whispered. “All that time I spent fixing the relations with the Uchiha, and Hiruzen just threw it all out?”

“I believe his prejudice towards the Uchiha was passed along by the Nidaime. I don’t think there was anything you could have done to convince him otherwise.”

Minato snorted.

“That’s obvious, Itachi-kun. It was a point of many arguments during my time as Hokage. I think he forgot sometimes that he was no longer in charge of everything. Either way though, how on Earth did Danzou kill all the Uchiha?” Minato asked. “There’s no way Hiruzen would have let him get away with that, not without consequences.”

“Me,” Itachi said, looking Minato in the eye. “When I was 13, he ordered me to either kill my entire family and save Sasuke, or do nothing and perish with them. At this point, the masked shinobi who extracted the Kyuubi was already planning on killing them, so I decided to stay and watch him rather than betray the village. When I informed Sarutobi-sama, he covered for Danzou and sent me on a long term infiltration mission and announced me as an S class Nukunin.”

They sat in silence for several minutes as Minato absorbed all the information he had just given to him. As far as reports went, this was about as pathetic an excuse someone could have, so Itachi didn’t doubt Minato was drawing his own conclusions. He seemed to be thinking things through, and Itachi had no problem giving him all the time he needed to puzzle stuff out. This was a lot of information to be given directly after coming back to life. Honestly, Itachi wouldn’t be surprised if Minato refused to help him and left to reclaim his spot as Hokage.

“One more question for now, Itachi-kun,” Minato said tiredly, the exhaustion from waking up finally catching up to him. “Where is Naruto?”

Itachi sighed deeply, knowing Minato was not going to be happy with his answer.

“Naruto was just set up with his own apartment, I believe. Or, at least, he will be in the next couple of days if he hasn’t already.”

Minato’s eyes bored into Itachi’s, fury rolling through them.

“What do you mean he’s getting his own apartment? He’s only 5! Where the hell are the adults? Where’s Shikaku, or Mikoto, or Kakashi? Where is _Jiraiya?_ ” He snarled.

“An order was put out that anyone personally acquainted with you was forbidden from interacting with Naruto until he is a Genin in order to prevent enemies from linking him to you. It is also illegal to inform him of his parentage. It is currently October 17th, almost exactly five years after your death. Every year on the 10th, the village celebrates the Kyuubi festival in honor of you defeating it. Sarutobi-sama announced to the village that Naruto is a Jinchuriki, and thus, he has become the village pariah. He lives, barely cared for, in the orphanage. This year, the matron threw him out on the night of the festival, even though she was on strict orders to keep him inside. As such, he was found by several drunk shinobi and attacked. Sarutobi-sama decided it was too dangerous to keep him in the orphanage, so he decided to put Naruto into his own apartment,” Itachi finished, already dreading Minato’s response.

“Attacked?” he asked simply, his expression blank but eyes boiling.

Itachi licked his lips. “I didn’t see it happen, but from what I understand, it was a bunch of Chunin, one of whom was an Uchiha, who threw a beer bottle at him, concussed him, then gouged one of his eyes out with a burning kunai in a back alley. Hatake Kakashi was the one who found them, and I was told they had to pretty much wipe paste off the walls. He will be suspended for the next 3 months from active duty. Naruto’s eye will grow back, though.”

Minato sat in silence for a while, eyes burning in fury as he stared at the ground. After several minutes, he looked back to Itachi.

“Where’s Jiraiya? There’s no way Hiruzen could have banned him from seeing Naruto, not with Naruto listed as his Godson. So, then, where the hell is he?”

Itachi truly wished in that moment that he had a good answer. Minato didn’t deserve to have all this dumped on him at once. 

“Although I never had the chance to ask him myself, from what I was told, he is outside the village acting as its spymaster. I think he couldn’t handle the grief of losing another student, and decided instead to allow Sarutobi-sama to act as he thought best. He doesn’t return to the village until Naruto’s first Chunin exam when he’s 12.”

Minato let out a deep, shuddering sigh.

“So, how do we get out of here? I believe that we have some people that require talking to,” he said wearily.

“We can’t,” Itachi said.

“What do you mean?” Minato asked. “Worst comes to worst I can shred through that door with a Rasengan. It’ll set off the alarms, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be a problem considering I’m going to see Hirzen anyway.”

“That’s not what I meant, Minato-sama,” Itachi started. “We can’t go talk to them.”

“What the hell do you mean we can’t go talk to them?” Minato snapped. “I have every right to storm in there and kill Hiruzen myself for blatantly going against my orders and isolating my son. I told him to make Naruto a hero, not a demon in the eyes of a village!”

“The second you enter that village, you will probably never leave it again. First of all, I’ll bet anything that it will be Root members who respond to the broken seals, not normal Anbu. Danzou has been killing them off and gradually replacing them. Then, if on the off chance they actually accept that it’s you, Danzou will most likely want to study your seal and learn how to resurrect the dead and make an army of unkillable slaves. You won’t become Hokage. They’ll lock you in the deepest, most secure cell we have and use you as an experiment. 

“If you get lucky and end up getting to see Sarutobi-sama, the counsel will never put you back on the seat. You’re adored by the entire village, but most of the counsel would rather see Danzou take the hat. They’ll throw you in Anbu and forbid you from showing your face in public under the threat of death. Or, perhaps, Naruto’s. The other hidden villages know you’re dead. If you suddenly came back, everywhere would break into an all out war against Konohagakure for lying. Not only that, you would most likely never get to see Naruto.”

“So what, exactly, do you propose I do then?” Minato spat, rising to his feet and storming over to Itachi.

“In short, we need to leave here without detection, and begin spreading the rumor that the Yellow Flash is back.”

Minato’s face cleared up a bit and he looked down at Itachi.

“Jiraiya’s the spymaster. The second he gets wind of that, he’s bound to come running. I can send him back to Konoha to take care of Naruto while we take over his spy network,” he said, looking at Itachi, curious if this was his line of thinking as well.

“Exactly,” Itachi said. “We take over the spy network and begin looking for this masked man. As far as I know, he should be lurking around Amegakure right now. We get in, take him out, and spread your name everywhere. Maybe even meet with the Tsuchikage or Raikage before Sarutobi-sama to gain some trust.”

“Then,” Minato added, “once everyone knows of the Yellow Flash being back, we have Jiraiya sneak us into Konohagakure so I can make a public appearance before going to Hiruzen. They wouldn’t be able to sweep that under the rug. If I suddenly disappeared, there’d be a riot.”

“Maybe even make use of your Hiraishin or Rasengan in public.Then they’ll know it’s definitely you and not an imposter,” Itachi finished, looking up at Minato for approval.

They had a small staredown before Minato conceded.

“This is going to take a while though. I would say it would be at least a year before I can come back. More likely two or three, if we’re going to have to track a man who can teleport at will,” Minato pointed out.

Itachi hummed thoughtfully. “Perhaps, but there is a chance we don’t actually have to kill him. One of the eyes I have belonged to him, so I should be able to combat him pretty thoroughly, even when he goes intangible.”

Minato raised an eyebrow.

“Convenient,” he said. “I apologize for acting irrationally. My head appears to still be on a bit backwards. So, what’s the plan from here, then? I would assume you have something planned after bringing me back. I would like to see the seal you used at some point, as well. It sounds like quite the work of art.”

“Well for now, I have a small camp set up for us with supplies a couple miles North of Konohagakure. I snuck into Hatake’s house and was able to find the Hiraishin kunai you gave him. I planted that there in hopes you could just teleport us out, but if not I can use the Kamui one more time today. It’ll knock me out for the next couple of days, though,” Itachi explained.

“As long as no one has messed with the seal, I should be able to jump right to it. Let me see if I can find it,” Minato said, closing his eyes and branching some chakra out around him. 

After a few minutes, he opened his eyes with a smile. “I got it. I’m ready to go whenever you are, though I do expect the full story of the events leading up to now when we get there.”

“Of course, Minato-sama,” Itachi said, dragging himself off the floor. Minato caught him when he staggered.

“Easy there. Don’t want you bashing open your skull on Shodaime-sama,” Minato said good naturedly.

Itachi couldn’t help but snort.

“I’ll need one of your hairs. The second they hear about you they’ll be checking your casket. I have a seal that should make a convincing body double,” Itachi said, staggering over to pick his pen up from where it had been thrown. 

“Where did you get that?” Minato asked. “What do the seals on it do?”

Sighing, Itachi grabbed a slip of paper out of his pouch and began writing out the seal. This one was far more complex than what he had put on Minato earlier, so it would take him a few good minutes. 

“This pen was specially made for me by Naruto,” Itachi said, showing Minato the seals. “Pretty much, the seals in it allow it to automatically draw blood and combine it with the ink in here. The ink was specially made and infused with Naruto’s chakra so that it would give your depleted system a boost. We had to make sure I didn’t flood your system with just my chakra, bring you back to life, and then have you go straight into shock.”

“That seems like a very handy thing to have,” Minato murmured as Itachi stabbed himself for the second time.

Itachi proceeded to write out the seal, the drawing swirling out into eight separate points. When he was finished, he pulled a scroll out and bit his thumb, drawing a bloody line across it. With a poof of smoke, a white Zetsu clone appeared in the coffin.

“I’ll need one of your hairs now,” Itachi stated, holding a hand back towards Minato. 

“What is that thing?” Minato asked as he placed a golden hair in Itachi’s outstretched palm.

Itachi set the seal in the middle of its chest before slipping the hair in its mouth. With yet another poof of smoke, it took on an identical form to Minato.

“It’s called a Zetsu. They’re clones that were mass produced during the war that can copy both one’s appearance and chakra network so perfectly it can even deceive a Hyuuga. Unless they remove the hair from its mouth, they won’t be able to tell the difference. At least I hope so,” Itachi muttered.

He placed the original preservation seal back on the creature before taking a step back. He pulled out a scroll and summoned some clothing before tossing it at Minato.

“Can you put this on so we can give the Zetsu your clothes? Your shirt is a lost cause, but they’re both Konoha standard blue, so I don’t think anyone will notice. I have an extra you can have.”

Minato glanced down and seemed to notice that his shirt was slit down the middle for the first time. He quickly dropped all his clothes and changed into unassuming greys and blues. While Itachi struggled to pull the clothes onto the Zetsu, Minato took stock of his body. There was an ugly scar in the middle of his stomach, presumably from the Kyuubi’s claws, and some sort of seal burned into his chest. There were various other small nicks and cuts that had scabbed over at some point during Itachi’s healing of his body, and his chakra levels were dangerously low, but Minato supposed things could be worse.

He could be dead.

Pulling on the dark grey shirt, he walked over to Itachi and helped him pull on the Zetsu's pants. It was pretty creepy, how precise the copy was.

“Do you think you could use a small henge on it to get rid of the huge scar?” Itachi asked. “They won’t notice it if it’s your chakra, I think.”

Nodding, Minato stepped up and put the hole back in his counterpart’s body. He winced at the nasty thing, and was glad Itachi had managed to fix it before he had come back to life. It would have been all sorts of painful to do afterwards, and it even still ached a little. He felt slightly sick as Itachi grabbed something from the base of the casket that Minato assumed was some sort of plug and stabbed it into the double’s gut. That would hurt.

Itachi stepped back, satisfied with his work. It was an exact double, and even if they dissected it, the sick thing would stay the same. He would just have to hope they didn’t run a DNA test, because he had no idea what the results would look like. For all Itachi knew, it could turn up as Hashirama Senju, Tenzou, or even a completely random plant. They were weird like that. 

Pulling his Sharingan up once again, Itachi felt a sharp burn behind his mismatched eyes as he called his Mangekyo back into existence. With a mere flick of the wrist, the heavy marble lid of the casket swirled back into the correct dimension and landed without a noise, once again sealing the body of the “Yondaime” back in darkness. Staggering, Itachi dropped to his knees, panting heavily. Itachi felt a gentle hand on his back and realized he was swaying as it grabbed his shoulder to steady him. 

“Doing alright there, Itachi-kun?” Minato asked softly, helping the man to his feet.

“Fabulous,” Itachi slurred. “Would you mind wiping the blood off the wall where I hit? I don’t want to leave behind any DNA. I don’t think my nine year old self would enjoy being hauled to T and I.”

Minato said something that might have been an affirmative, but Itachi was too busy trying not to pass out to notice. He wasn’t sure how long he stayed there swaying (it could have been seconds, it could have been hours), but by the time the Yondaime grabbed his elbow again, Itachi was jolting back awake.

“I know you’re exhausted, Itachi-kun, but I really need to know if there’s anything else we need to seal. I checked and didn’t find anything, but you would know better than I would…” he trailed off.

“No, no,” Itachi mumbled. “I used my Kamui to get in here, so even the seals couldn’t stop me. We just need to get out, and we should be in the clear.”

“Alrighty, then,” Minato said, clapping his hands. “Let’s get out of here, get some rest, and then you’re answering all my questions!”

Although Minato had said it in a chirp, Itachi could hear the veiled command hidden in his voice. It wasn’t hard to remember this man was a Hokage.

“Yes, Yondaime-sama,” Itachi was pretty sure he said as he leaned into Minato’s side, too exhausted to stand any longer.

With a quiet twist and golden flash, the two men vanished.

**Author's Note:**

> Yell at me on my [ tumblr ](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nikkicross22) or my [ Twitter? ](https://twitter.com/NikkiCross_) I take prompts all the time, and I love chatting with literally anyone. Come say hi!
> 
> Check out my [ Ko-Fi](https://ko-fi.com/nikkicross0327)?
> 
> Please leave a comment! It feeds my soul!
> 
> ~Nikki


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